First created for the SNES in 1996, Harvest Moon is a classic game series about hard work, friendship, love, and enjoying the simple things in life. The series has stayed successful, even after switching localization and distribution from longtime partner Natsume to producer Marvelous’ American localization/distribution company, XSeed Games. It also endured a name change to Story of Seasons, as Natsume retains the rights to the brand name “Harvest Moon” for the US and Europe. None of this is surprising, but what is surprising is that Marvelous is bringing a remake of the 2003 Game Boy Advance classic Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town and its female counterpart, More Friends of Mineral Town, to the Nintendo Switch.
First announced in a preview of Famitsu’s July 18th issue, the scans below show a mixture of both the traditional charm of the GBA game with the modernity of Marvelous’ newest Story of Seasons title, Trio of Towns. Players are now able to choose from either Pete or Claire; the traditional series protagonists, or two new protagonist styles. New colors and styles of pets have been added as well as newer livestock such as rabbits, alpacas, and a strawberry colored cow. No word on whether they’ll produce strawberry milk, or if they’re simply there for appearances.
We also get a look at new appearances for several villagers as well as marriage candidates Popuri, Karen, Rick, and Cliff. There was an announcement of special marriage candidates being available, but no information is available on who they are just yet. My money’s on Skye, the special bachelor from Harvest Moon: DS Cute and the Witch Princess, respectively. Twitter user @HDKirin gives us a closer look at Famitsu’s preview pages.
https://twitter.com/HDKirin/status/1146435634174681088
Marvelous has also released a trailer alongside the announcement of both the remake’s release and the announcement that the game will be released in the US and Europe. Key features of the original game will be available in the remake, such as the large, multi-floor mines, horse racing, dog frisbee competitions, and the Harvest Sprites. We also get a closer look at the new animal designs available for cows, and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it look at the new designs for both the Kappa and the Harvest Goddess. (No word on whether you can marry the Kappa in the remake just yet.)
While the game will be available in Japan on October 17th, there’s no word on how long the localization for the US and Europe will take. Hopefully, this is only the first of a long line of classic Harvest Moon titles remade for the next generation. Until then you can always pass the time with one of the many region free Nintendo Switch titles found on J-List.
